We hunger and thirst for lives that are more fully alive. God, Author of Life, please lead us there.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

On Service (1)

"If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there my servant will be also; if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him" (John 12:26).

I've been thinking a lot about service these past several months. Recently, however, God's led me into a new kind of reflection on it. These words by Jesus speak my heart open with their three statements:

If anyone serves me he must follow me,

Where I am there my servant will be also, and

If anyone serves me the Father will honor him.

I'm captured by the second statement here because it's unquestionably the greatest desire of my seeking heart right now. I want to be more with Jesus. I mean really with him. I don't want to be far from him where his person, his touch, his word seem vague amidst the competition of this world's other persons, touches, and words.

According to Jesus, that kind of intimacy requires embracing servanthood. That is, the ongoing practice of my design in relationship with him as his servant. I can't have intimacy with Christ without being his servant. I wonder how many will sacrifice the most precious reality in human existence so they might not have to think of themselves as servant to anyone... even the infinite, eternal God?

You cannot claim to have Christ as your Lord if you will not serve Him. If you take Christ as your Lord and Savior, you must take Him for all that He is, not only as a Friend, but also as Master; and if you are to become His disciple, you must also become His servant. I hope that no one fights against that truth... one of our highest privileges on earth... and also our joyous occupation heaven itself: "His servants will serve Him. They will see His face" (Revelation 22:3-4).